Corn math

[hangin'witthepeeps]

This year on my section that is roughly 20 ft x 60 ft I want to plant corn. I've only ever planted silver queen in rows. I was thinking about planting corn for the animals. I know it won't be enough to feed them all winter, but every little bit helps. I was also wanting to use the "three sisters" method and plant beans and some squash.

What I call squash is yellow straight neck, but I understand that using this method they are talking about pumpkin, acorn, or butternut. I would like to incorporate 2 plants of each type of squash. Should I still plant in rows using this method having 3 rows of corn waiting for it to grow about a foot then plant 2 bean seeds at each corn stalk then after the grow some plant squash around the outside borders?

What type of corn do I buy to grow and let dry for storage? Why type of beans would you recommend? Green beans or a dried bean?

Since this is an experiment this year I would even like to try 3 different types of corn. One row of each to see how well they produce and "store". Thanks for your input, Melissa.

 

[so lucky]

I have never done this but have read just a little about it. You will probably want a field type corn, not a sweet corn. If you ask at the co-op or farm store they can direct you as to the variety. "Back in the day" they planted a bean for drying, not a green bean. Maybe Anasazi or a red kidney bean? And somewhere I think I read that squash can cross polinate. You would want to check on this. LOTS of gardeners on here know about squash. I don't. But if it were me, I would plant a winter squash like butternut. It sounds like a great experiment. I don't have that much room. Bet the wildlife will love it!

 

[hangin'witthepeeps]

This particular plot has my horse pasture on one side with a German Shepherd and goat field on the other with a Great Pyrenees. I don't have much of a wildlife problem anymore other than skunks. Skunks are a total menace on my property. You have to be very careful at dusk in particular. They will come out of nowhere and growl and stamp the ground and spray with little provocation. I keep threatening to shoot them, but they must know I don't own a gun. :/

I think I just understood the miscommunication. I want to grow feed for my chickens, goats and horses not the local wildlife.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What you want is a "dent" corn, also called field corn. I don't know the different varieties available. Dad grew a couple of acres every year to feed the animals, but that was decades ago.

I have not done it exactly like that, but your basic idea sounds like it would work. I suggest dried beans because you will stomp all over that squash trying to pick green beans. I'd also think you might damage the corn trying to get to the green beans to pick them.

You'll probably get some cross-pollination from that corn since it is wind-pollinated, but I'd suggest thinking about it as three separate 20' x 20' plots. I don't quite follow your "one row of each". You probably mean one plot of each. You need at least three rows side by side to get good pollination.

I suggest buying a shotgun. A 12 gauge full choke allows you to keep a certain distance. They are loud, but there is not as much chance of a long ricochet with shotguns.

 

[hangin'witthepeeps]

Well Ridgerunner you answered my question, not rows. So I would till up a patch and just throw the corn out and cover it?

Not too worried about this year saving seed. I want to figure out which corn grew best, then I would only grow one kind next year. I understand that whichever I choose to make sure and save the seed off of a stalk that grew two ears. That way my seed would have a greater chance of growing two eared stalks next year. Just something I heard, I don't know if it's true.

I've been window shopping for a gun for over a year now. I'm partial to "antiques" and have been looking at the local pawn shop. One day I'm going to "bite the bullet" and get me a .22 bolt action. Skunks be forewarned.

 

[Ridgerunner]

No. we have a misunderstanding. I'd plant it in "rows", plural, not "row", singular. For a section 20 feet wide I'd probably have six rows parallel. First row in maybe 2-1/2 feet, then six rows at 3 feet. That should leave 2-1/2 feet to the outside edge.

What I was trying to say is not a singular row but several rows side by side. I evidently did not say it clearly.

 

[seedcorn]

Your best bet is to find a farmer in the area as you will want to plant a hybrid corn for best yield. Rows should be 30-36" apart, seeds about 6" apart, 2" deep. You aren't going to need a full bag and most will want to sell a full bag. If you are wanting it for feed, plant it all at once so the whole patch comes up together, pollinates together and ripens together.

 

[hangin'witthepeeps]

Just an update. When I got home my neighbor shot the resident skunk. We've had rabies in our area and it was acting funny. It was a little one, probably a juvenile. I felt really sorry for it, but at least we can walk outside at dusk now and not worry too much. All my animals just had their rabies shots. Goats, horses, cats and dogs, I can't wait to receive that vet bill.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I guess I'll tell one of my skunk stories. Way back when I was in college, many decades ago, a skunk sprayed under a neighbor's front porch. He had two sons about the same age as my two younger brothers. Those four declared war on skunks that summer, actively hunting them with guns, not traps. They can't agree on how many they got, either 54 or 56. Their hunting range was probably less than 150 acres.

Point being, you may still have a lot of skunks around.

 

[hangin'witthepeeps]

We've always had skunk problems, but this juvenile had made it's home underneath my home. The smell on the day's it fought with bigger skunks was unreal. Then my poor 9 year old would be teased mercilessly at school because the smell will linger for days. One day I had to leave my purse in my car at work, it was just too smelly to bring in the office.

Where I live skunks, racoons, opossums, and enormous squirrels are just a fact of life. I just can't handle the living under my house and causing my son to be picked on. That's why all my animals have rabies shots, which is especially important this year with the mild winter. In a county next to us an older gentleman was attacked by his bull because it had contracted rabies.

Smelly skunks, rabies, and bullies at school. No wonder gardening is my "hobby", it allows me some peace, lol.